Fighting the Fruit Shortage

"If we don't spend time with God in prayer, then we go empty-handed into the marketplace." 

A friend said these words to me over a year ago, and I continue to ponder the truth of them.  How often (I ask myself) do I dash out before taking time to be with God?  How often do I think I'm "too busy" to spend a few minutes with Scripture, too busy to let God feed me with His Word?

All too often I rush, malnourished and empty, into the marketplace - bringing nothing with me but my own flawed, weak human nature.

If I spend even a bit of time with God, however, I give the fruit of His Spirit an opportunity to grow.  I allow Him to strengthen me, causing my life to overflow with goodness that will eventually nourish not just me, but also those around.  

It takes time for fruit to grow.  It takes patience to sit through those dark silent moments of prayer when it seems nothing is happening.  

"The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faith, mildness, and chastity."  (Galatians 6:22)  

I do not have to look far to see that these fruits of the Spirit are in scarce supply in our workplaces and malls and media and schools and towns.  

There is a fruit shortage right before us, right here today.  And it's severe.

I can do something about it, about the shortage, but I can't do it alone.  I cannot manufacture fruit.  I can only come to God, reading His Word and letting it become living and active in me (Hebrews 4:12), allowing Him time and space to cause His fruit to grow.

Then I shall go into the marketplace, no longer empty-handed.  

I can carry to others what God has planted in prayer.   

© 2014 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org      

Painting: Emil Barbarini, Gemüsemarkt in einer Altstadt

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This post is an edited version of one from our 2012 archives   

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Ordinary Actions, Extraordinary Love

'While not neglecting other duties,
these seek above all things
to learn to know Jesus...
and endeavour to live always
in union with Him
Who is ever in the
chapel of their hearts....

This is, indeed, the perfect practice of devotion
to the Sacred Heart
beating in the Tabernacle on the Altar
and in the living tabernacle of our hearts -

thus did the Saints love!  Many
of these friends of God
never did very wonderful things
during their years on earth,
but they loved much
and did ordinary things
with extraordinary love.

St. Rita was a cook;
St. Benedict Joseph Labre, a beggar...
and an endless list of others who did no more than the ordinary actions that go to make up the warp and woof of our daily lives. Yet they scaled the heights of sanctity by the ladder of loving aspirations of prayer.'

(from "Listening to the Indwelling Presence," compiled by a Religious, Pellegrini, Australia, 1940, pp. 44-45)

Painting:  Edgar Degas, Woman Ironing

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Each Sin Has Its Door

'Each sin has its door of entrance.
Keep-that-door-closed!
Bolt it tight!
Just outside,
the wild beast crouches
in the night.
Pin the bolt with prayer;
God will fix it there.'


(from "Listening to the Indwelling Presence,"
compiled by a Religious, Pellegrini, Australia, 1940, p.191)




Painting:  Théo Van Rysselberghe

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That Winter Garden

'A severe winter kills and destroys all the plants and flowers in the country... 

Sin, that sad and terrible winter of the soul, destroys all the holy works it finds there... 

 'But when sin is driven out, and the grace of Divine Love returns to the soul, 

not only the new affections which the return of this holy springtime produces

bud forth into rich merits and blessings,

but the works faded 

and withered under the harshness

of the bygone winter of sin -

as if freed from their mortal enemy -

resume their strength and vigour 

and, as if raised from death, 

flourish anew and are fruitful 

in merits for eternal life.'

 

St. Francis de Sales

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My Habit

Over the years, I've heard numerous discussions about habits.  Speaking as a layperson who has never had the opportunity to wear one, I offer my humble perspective.  Which is:  I personally find a habit to be a striking witness.  

It seems an external thing, and of course it is.  But a habit speaks volumes to the world around.  And I wonder: could it even speak to those who wear it day after day?  After all, we humans are affected by symbols, probably at levels beyond mere words.

What does a habit say to me when I see it?  "I have found God to be worth the gift of my whole life," it tells me. "Nothing on earth is as important as He."

I think back to once when I'd been visiting a convent.  I was escorted to the street by a Sister wearing the same graceful habit her foundress wore in the 1600s.  As I got into my car, a gentleman passed by on the sidewalk and saw Sister across the fence.  He spoke to her, then stopped to talk.  Sister graciously stood to chat with this man (someone she had apparently never met), and as I left I heard the man say he was a former Catholic.  This gentleman seemed to be launching into a particularly important discussion - perhaps one which would affect him long after he walked on. Yet the meeting would have not taken place had this woman not been clearly identifiable as “Sister.” 

As a cloistered heart, I wear - and speak - the language of habits.  We've talked of this before in these pages.  To see our original post on this, click here.

In the meantime, today I'm checking on the condition of my habits.  

Am I in the habit of responding to persons and situations with love, kindness, generosity?  
Am I in the habit of carrying the love of Christ to everyone I meet?  Am I in the habit of spending time with God in prayer?  

May I be clothed, and seen, in the habits of a cloistered heart.  

"You must lay aside your former way of life, and the old self which deteriorates through illusion and desire, and acquire a fresh, spiritual way of thinking. You must put on that new man created in God’s image, whose justice and holiness are born of truth.” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
 

"Because you are God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with heartfelt mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.  Bear with one another, forgive whatever grievances you have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord has forgiven you.  Over all these virtues put on love, which binds the rest together and makes them perfect."  (Colossians 3:12-14) 
 
“Do you see how little it takes to become a saint?  All that is necessary is acquiring the habit of wanting to do the will of God at all times.” (St. Vincent de Paul)

“Clothe me, O eternal Truth, clothe me with yourself, that I may run my mortal course with true obedience and the light of holy faith…” (St. Catherine of Siena)

“I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul; for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice.” (Isaiah 61:10)

"You must put on the armor of God if you are to resist on the evil day; do all that your duty requires, and hold your ground.   Stand fast, with the truth as the belt around your waist, justice as your breastplate, and zeal to propagate the gospel of peace as your footgear.  In all circumstances, hold  faith up before you as your shield, it will help you extinguish the fiery darts of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, the word of God."  (Ephesians 6:13-17)
 
Painting of nun with roses:  Herbert James Draper, US public domain

Painting of family:  James Tissot, US public domain

This is a re-post from our archives, slightly edited
Text not in quotes is © 2014 Nancy Shuman   thecloisteredheart.org  All Rights Reserved

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